Geographical Guide to the Best Recipes in Every Land

      This week, Lilian and Werther trade the freezing temps of Terror Mountain for the frigidness of outer space.

      Using their newly converted spaceship, they blast off into the sky. After reaching space, Lilian uses the thrusters to guide the ship towards Kreludor.

      Kreludor is Neopia’s largest moon and home to the Kreludan Mining Corp., Kreludor’s only form of industry. Only Grundos and robots inhabit the moon year-round. Surprisingly though, the atmosphere is similar enough to Neopia that the air is breathable.

      Lilian and Werther exit the ship after Lilian successfully lands it on Kreludor’s surface.

      They explore the moon’s cratered surface and the small number of shops. As they explore, Lilian bumps into a little Grundo who introduces her to a new Kreludan recipe.

      Café Kreludor Shopkeeper: Welcome to our Moon! If you’re looking for something sweet, boy do I have the treat for you! Come stop by my shop, it’s way better than Grundo’s Café.

     Werther: We’re honoured to be here. I’m enjoying bouncing around like a Kiko for once, but I know it can’t be so easy to live like that.

      Café Shopkeeper: It’s how we got so good in the Kreludor Cup! You’d think we’d be bogged down by gravity, but we’re better in low-oxygen environments. We have extra high endurance. We also have to fight … well, never mind. I have a task for you once you get to my store.

      Lilian: We’ll be glad to help in exchange for your favourite recipe!

      Kreludor: Kreludan Cake Pops

      Kreludor Café Shopkeeper: Well that settles it. Unlike some of the other foods here, like the zero-gravity parfait, this one won’t completely float away while you’re trying to eat it, as they’re served on sticks. Now, one could make this by mixing together the Kreludan Cake with frosting imported from the mainland, but what fun would that be? These cake pops are full of authentic Kreludan flavour and represent the fun and sticky situations one can get into when working in a low-gravity kitchen. Ask Gorix or Cylara for some assistance in finding:

      Fruity Star Juice, Swirly Kreludan Cake, Sticky Glob Sticks, Squeezable Tigersquash, Fresh Kreluberry, Bag of Space Dust, Purple Grundo Lunar Plum

      The cake is already premade for us, so we’ll leave that part until later. First of all, go ahead and squeeze some of that tigersquash and a little bit of star juice in a bowl, and mix well. This will begin our frosting-making procedure. After that is done, add in two kreluberries for flavour, but first, make sure to remove any rocks that might be stuck to the outside or that found their way in. Now for the favourite ingredient of all the little ones who live here: sticky glob sticks! Go ahead and slide (pull, if you must) that glob off them and into the bowl with the tigersquash, kreluberry, and star juice. Add just a tiny pinch of space dust if it is too sticky. Stir together until it’s truly a galactic success of a frosting. Wondering where to wash your hands? Wipe them off on a rock – that’s your best bet if you’re baking up here. Or better yet, stick your finger in and enjoy some, if you haven’t already! Now mix the cake with frosting. Go ahead and crumble that cake up in pieces, but you had best do it in a bag before it all floats away. Then, in a ratio of 1/3 a bowl of frosting per cake, begin to mash and roll the whole mixture together. Once it has a consistent texture, shape bits of it into spheres, and put sticks in them. Take them outside for a moment so they can finish solidifying; it will help the decorations adhere better. For finishing touches, take some extra tigersquash, kreluberry, and lunar plum, and speckle on the design of Kreludor itself. It might take a bit of practice, but you’ll master it soon. And with that, you’re done! What a tasty treat with which to celebrate the Neopian Times!

      Lilian: That was delicious! Now, what can we do to help?

      Kreludor Café Shopkeeper: We have a bit of a problem with slorgs.

      Werther: Say nothing else. I’m on it.

      After quite a bit of cleanup, Lilian and Werther leave the very grateful shopkeeper and head back to their ship.

      Lilian: Kreludor is a nice place to visit for a short getaway; you can see everything in less than a day. That’s including travel time too.

      Lilian and Werther wrap up their tour of Kreludor and jump into their spaceship. They blast off into the darkness of space towards the next stop of their journey.

      Hours pass by before the red glow of the Virtupets space station comes into view.

      Lilian asks for permission to board the space station. Once they are granted permission, Lilian docks their spaceship onto the Space Station.

      After exiting their spaceship they take the elevator up the Recreation Deck.

      Virtupets Space Station – Recreation Deck: Flying Space Ship Burger

      A booming voice greets them: Welcome to Virtupets Orbital Space Station #4!

      Werther: Oh, hello, Dr Sloth! Pleasure to meet you. We have travelled to the perimeters of Neopia’s outer space to try this one-of-a-kind, flying burger. We’re also writing a series on the best food in Neopia, and would love to include it.

      Dr Sloth: Spreading my fame, are you? I’ve heard about you prancing all over the place. Come with me to the kitchen, and I’ll show you. Grab your notebooks, and don’t leave anything out! You’ll need:

      Cratered Pastry, Cosmic Broccoli, Protein on the Go, Dark Nova Fruit, Orange Rambus

      The cratered pastry will serve as our bread for this extraterrestrial sandwich. Once you cut it into halves for this burger, you’ll find the leftover crumbs seem to orbit it, no matter what angle you hold it at. Strange. Anyway, I recommend you continue, while gravity remains somewhat stable. Your cosmic broccoli will be your greens, unless you upset me, in which case you’d be eating some glowing asparagus. Luckily I’m in good spirits today. There’s no real meat here, so go ahead and smother on your protein on the go. I insist you use my own dark nova fruit – I want none of that light frilly faerie stuff. You wouldn’t think there’d be fruit here, but my Grundos grow it in a secret lab. It’s actually quite tasty. In lieu of sauce, just squeeze some of the ooze out of the Orange Rambus. Now that it’s complete, bite in! There’s no need for the tooth faerie or healing faerie on this trip.

      As Lilian and Werther cut the bread into halves, the crumbs accidentally end up orbiting the sandwich. They shrug their shoulders and just accept it as fact. Dr Sloth doesn't seem to mind.

      Dr Sloth: I’ve got world-ruling business to attend to, but feel free to explore. I’ll be looking for a glorious review in the Neopian Times!

      Lilian and Werther quickly move along.

      Werther: I never would have guessed Dr Sloth could make a decent burger. I’ve learned a lot during this journey.

      Lilian and Werther enjoy their freshly made burgers while taking the elevator to the next level of the space station.

      Virtupets Space Station – Supply Deck: Galaxy in a Glass

      They arrive at the Supply Deck. On this level, you’ll find the Space Weaponry Shop, Space Armour Shop, Space Petpets Shop, and the Grundo Warehouse.

      While walking around the Supply Deck, they are approached by Zyrolon. He is on break from fixing vending machines.

      Zyrolon: Hi, you two don’t seem to be from around here. I’m Zyrolon.

      Lilian: I’m Lilian and this is my assistant, Werther. We’re visiting from Neopia, and we’ve come to learn more about the foods that can be found on the Virtupets Space Station and their recipes. I’m hoping to add them to a series I’m writing for The Neopian Times.

      Zyrolon: That sounds very interesting. I could help you with that. I fix vending machines and have sampled every item that is in the vending machines on the Space Station. Would you like to know which item is my favourite?

      Lilian: Yes, please. I’d love to know.

      Werther: That sounds like a nice job to have. I’d love a job where I’d get free drinks and snacks!

      Zyrolon: Well then, it was meant to be. It is a drink called Galaxy in a Glass. It can only be found on the Space Station a few times a year, but I can tell you the recipe so that you can make it down on Neopia. The ingredients are:

      Cherry Sloth Yogurt, Blue Rambus, Orange Rambus, Nova Fruit, Cherries Jubalee, Galactic Water

      First, fill a tray with the Galactic Water, and take it to the temperature modulation room. Open the window for no more than one second, and the water will freeze. Make sure to close the window when you’re done! Then, return to the kitchen and gently crush it into a blender. Next, you’ll want to prepare the fruit. For the Orange and Blue Rambus, as well as the Nova Fruit, cut the fruit in half, scoop out the middle, and add to the blender along with the Cherries Jubalee and Cherry Sloth Yogurt. When you mix these ingredients with the Galactic Water, you’ll observe a fascinating phenomenon: the whole smoothie will begin to glow a delightful purple galaxy colour, as the Nova Fruit combines with the stardust of the Galactic water. And there you have it, Galaxy in a Glass!

      Lilian: That is a relatively simple recipe, as long as one can find all the ingredients. This is absolutely getting added into my series!

      Zyrolon: You’ve made my day. I’m glad I could be of help to you. Now, what time is it? Oh my, how the time flies. My break is almost over. I need to get back to work. Nice meeting you both!

      Lilian and Werther: Thank you Zyrolon! It was great meeting you, too.

      Having gotten another recipe, Lilian and Werther use the elevator to go down to the last level of the Virtupets Space Station, the Hangar. This is the level that holds all the spaceships. As it so happens, Dr Sloth’s meeting must have been about his space fleet, as he’s down here.

      Virtupets Space Station – Hangar: Berry Sloth Ice Cream

      Dr Sloth: You two again?

      Werther: I didn’t mean to intrude! We just had your wonderful Galaxy in a Glass, and thought we’d see if there was any speciality food on this level of your magnificent spaceship. We don’t want to skimp on your section in the Neopian Times.

      Dr Sloth: Very well. I’ll share one of my favourite recipes. You see, it’s named after me and looks like me, and if you eat it, you’ll feel great like me too. What’s that? Hah, no, I’m still the emperor here. You just get to visit the ship. This recipe is easy enough for even my Grundos to make perfectly each day. Sculpting is the difficult part, but you’ll manage. You’ll find my ingredients tend to shape themselves after me anyway – something about the atmosphere here. For this recipe, gather:

      Blue Ice Apple, Cherries Juballee, Blueberry Gateaux, Nova Fruit, Intergalactic Planet Dairy, and Mystery Dessert Goo

      In a blender, mix the Blue Ice Apple, Cherries Jubalee, Blueberry Gateaux, about 10 ounces of fruit total, and about a half cup of the Mystery Dessert Goo. It’s essentially pure sugar and will make this turn red and glow, when mixed with the Ice Apple and Cherries. It’s a mystery goo because none of us are quite sure what’s in it, and how it changes colours when mixed with the right ingredients. I added a touch of my magical power to make it glow. With those blended, and with the machine still running, slowly add around 2/3 cup of Intergalactic Planet Dairy to thicken the mixture and give it the smooth texture it deserves. With that, it is ready to eat! They say eating cold food in a cold place will actually warm you, so dig in. These Grundos don’t need much heating, but they do keep it tolerable around here.

      Lilian: It’s certainly a treat! We will be sure to share the news of your kindness in teaching us how to make these recipes today.

      Before they can take off, the Coincidence comes into view.

      Coincidence: Space Quesadilla

      Werther uses his spaceship to page into Dr Landelbrot’s quarters.

      Dr. Landelbrot: Hello? I’ll be out of your way soon, no worries. Oh, is that you, Werther? It’s been such a long time since I heard your voice! I haven’t seen that hot air balloon since I helped you make it.

      Werther: Hello Doc! I have a quick question. Do you have any favourite space food? I’m working with Lilian here, the prof’s daughter, to gather the best recipes in outer space for the Neopian Times.

      Dr Landelbrot: I’d invite you in, but random things happen here, and I don’t want to completely ruin your day by accidentally hurting your masterpiece of a vehicle there. Besides, I’d have to send you away on a quest. Instead, I’ll ask that you complete this quest back on the main Neopian surface. Could you ship me a tool? That would be quite wonderful. Actually, let me make this simpler. What I’m looking for can only be forged in Moltara, anyway, and I don't want you torching your fur. Promise me you will send along 25,000 Neopoints to Igneot, via the Guards, and tell them it’s for me. He’ll know what to do.

      Lilian: Will do, Sir. We appreciate your care for our ship and the role you played in creating it. It’s been a joy seeing the globe with it! We don’t have unlimited oxygen, however, and we’re going through it quickly, trying to stay within range of you. We need enough to get back down to Neopia.

      Dr Landelbrot: I won’t waste any more of your time then. My favourite food is the Space Quesadilla. You might be thinking, “a quesadilla in space? That’s crazy!” I know, it seems irrational, implausible even. However, it’s not as difficult as you think, and this outer space version is nearly as good as a version you’d find in the tropics! I’ll be sharing how I make it when I’m on the Space Station, servicing Dr Sloth’s robots. For this recipe, you’ll need:

      Impermeable Cheese Log, Cosmic Cheese Stars, Nova Fruit

      The Impermeable Cheese Log might sound like a difficult start to this recipe, as no knife or sword, or even our Typing Terror robots can slice it. Encasing it in such rock is the only way to keep it fresh on its journey to outer space. Oh, and the blasters on Dr Sloth’s ship disintegrate the whole block, so that’s not an option either. However, if you put it outside for a few minutes, it’s bound to get split by a meteor. Take a shield for your head when you go! Once your block of cheese is open, you can sort of carry the halves of the log as cups and take the gooey cheese back inside in those. Once you’re inside the Space Station safely, you’ll visit the Typing Terror robots I mentioned earlier. … What was that? You don’t want to get struck by a meteor? Fine, you can use Cosmic Cheese Stars instead. Now I was saying, while someone is playing a game, place your Nova Fruit in front of one of them, then carefully extract the slices once the word has been typed correctly. Bring the fruit pieces back, and assemble them into sandwiches. One at a time, carefully place the quesadillas on top of the robot heads, being careful to take them off before the robots have reached the front of the line. They’ll heat up quickly, and shouldn’t disrupt the game player too much. And there you have it! Fried Nova Fruit and Cosmic Cheese Star Quesadillas! Safe journeys, I must be going!

      After Lilian finishes taking notes, she turns the spaceship towards Neopia. Hold onto your seats, as our two adventurers finish their journey around Neopia next week!

To be continued…